Rivers Flows the 'O'

Mamba · Oct 13, 2008

SAN DIEGO – He felt the fear of a season slipping away, and Philip Rivers knew the grinch-in-a-hoodie was coming to town. The San Diego Chargers quarterback pondered his team’s place in the world and came to a straightforward conclusion: To avoid hitting bottom, we need to go up top.

During a chance meeting in the weight room at the team’s training facility last Wednesday, Rivers ran this sentiment by coach Norv Turner, who was preparing for Bill Belichick and a New England Patriots squad that knocked San Diego out of the previous two postseasons. Turner, in his second year as the Chargers’ coach, was facing his second consecutive early-season crisis, and he was certainly open to suggestions.

The stakes were clear. At 2-3, San Diego simply couldn’t afford to bomb on Sunday night. What if, Rivers wondered, we open the game by throwing a bomb?

Turner was intrigued. As the week went on, even as he filled his game plan with quick, high-percentage passes, Turner pondered his quarterback’s idea. And on Sunday at Qualcomm Stadium, as the Chargers’ went through warmups before their 30-10 thrashing of the Pats, the coach and quarterback revisited the topic and decided to let it rip.

“Let’s do it,” Turner said to Rivers. “But if it’s not there, don’t forget the check-down to the back.”

Rivers nodded without much sincerity. He had no intention of playing it safe.

As tone-setters go, the call couldn’t have been any better. After Darren Sproles downed the opening kickoff, San Diego’s offense took the field and got ready to tangle with the team that had kept it out of the end zone in last January’s AFC championship game. Lined up in the right slot, wideout Vincent Jackson took off on a “go” route that wouldn’t be stopped. Rivers faked a handoff to halfback LaDainian Tomlinson, dropped back and heaved a 48-yard spiral downfield.

Even before Jackson hauled it in despite tight coverage from New England cornerback Deltha O’Neal, Rivers felt as though he’d already accomplished his mission.

“It wasn’t really that great of a throw, but Vincent went up and got it,” Rivers said later. “My attitude was, just give him a chance. When you throw it up like that, three of the four things that can happen are in your favor. You can get a catch or a (pass interference) call, and even with an incompletion you can kind of send a message.”

The message, reinforced repeatedly on Sunday by Rivers and his fired up teammates, could be translated thusly:

We’re not scared of you, especially with Tom Brady recovering from knee surgery a couple of hours up the coast.

We’re a much better team than the one people saw in the season’s first five games.

And instead of riding our future Hall of Fame halfback, our offense now runs through Rivers’ right arm.

Though Tomlinson accounted for 118 all-purpose yards and eclipsed 11,000 career rushing yards, becoming the NFL’s fourth-fastest player (behind Eric Dickerson, Jim Brown and Barry Sanders) to reach the milestone, he played a supporting role on Sunday. The Chargers seemed to call his number in order to keep the Patriots honest – or, at times, to give Rivers’ arm a breather.

In truth, be it because of nagging injuries or systemic changes, the Chargers haven’t really been LT’s team since before the stretch drive of last season, when San Diego shook off a 1-3 start to win the AFC West. The notion of a sequel, incidentally, seemed far more convincing after Sunday’s developments, with the division-leading Broncos (4-2) losing at home to Jacksonville and the Chargers closing to within a game in the standings.

San Diego got big contributions from players on both sides of the ball and excelled on special teams as well, but Rivers was the guy who made it all go. Even with leading receiver Chris Chambers out with an ankle injury, Rivers completed 18 of 27 passes for 306 yards – his first career 300-yard game at Qualcomm – and tied his career high (for the fourth time in ‘08) with three touchdown passes.

The 48-yard completion to Jackson on the opening play set up Nate Kaeding’s 25-yard field goal, and on San Diego’s next drive Rivers went up top again, finding wideout Malcom Floyd – also covered by O’Neal – on a 49-yard rainbow in the front of the end zone.

On the third quarter drive that put away the Pats – a four-play, 98-yard parking-lot-thinner – Rivers threw deep twice more to Jackson and in the process ruthlessly shredded Belichick’s secondary.

The pivotal sequence began after Matt Cassel, making his fourth career start in the wake of Brady’s season-ending knee injury in the opener, drove the Patriots 77 yards to the San Diego 1-yard line to start the second half. Trailing 17-3, Cassel threw incompletions on first and third downs, with a Sammy Morris run for no gain sandwiched in between.

On fourth down Cassel, who faced furious pressure from the middle of the line all night, tried to buy some time in the pocket before giving up on finding an open receiver. He clumsily started forward as if to slither his way into the end zone before getting pummeled at the 2, and the Chargers took over.

Rivers, after a 4-yard run by fullback Mike Tolbert, went to the long ball once again, zinging a 59-yard pass to Jackson. Two plays later Rivers threw to Jackson streaking down the left sideline, where the wideout was clipped by beaten cornerback Ellis Hobbs as he fell into the end zone.

The 32-yard pass interference penalty gave San Diego a first-and-goal from the 1. In the old days, there’d have been little doubt as to who would get the call: LT, who set an NFL record with 31 touchdowns in 2006.

Now, it must be concluded, Turner wants Rivers handling the ball.

The Qualcomm crowd hasn’t yet grasped the transition. Late in the second quarter, after Tomlinson had run 8 yards to the New England 4-yard-line on first down, the fans chanted “LT, LT.” But rather than calling Tomlinson’s number again, Turner had Rivers line up in the shotgun, and the quarterback zipped a pass to Jackson in the middle of the end zone.

Now back to that third-quarter drive: On first down, Rivers threw again, finding Antonio Gates on the right side of the end zone for a 24-3 lead.

Tomlinson, once the undisputed ruler of the red zone, has ceded that title to Rivers. For now, no one in San Diego is complaining.

“He’s a good weapon,” center Nick Hardwick said of the fifth-year quarterback, who has shown no ill effects of the torn ACL he somehow managed to play through in the ‘07 AFC title game in frigid Foxborough. “He’s a very, very smart guy who is aware of what defenses are doing at all times, so to put it on him is not a bad thing.”

Just before the Chargers took the field on Sunday, Kasim Osgood, San Diego’s Pro Bowl special-teams ace, surprised his teammates by giving an impassioned speech. He talked about pride and what motivates players to compete in big games, captivating an audience that understood the urgency of the situation.

“Let’s just put it on the line for each other,” Osgood urged. “Do it for the guy to the left of you and for the guy to the right. There’s something we want out there. It’s time to go get it.”

With that the charged-up Chargers raced out into the mild Southern California twilight and got ready to launch what amounted to a restart of the 2008 season.

“Yeah, it does feel a bit like that,” Hardwick said. “At least, I hope it was. The challenge now is to sustain it.”

As Sunday’s victory showed quite conclusively, it’s a challenge that starts – and ends – with Rivers.
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I love all the positive media love that Rivers is getting!

Mamba · Oct 13, 2008

Rivers currently leads the league in QB Rating (109.4), is tied in TD passes (14), and tied for passes of 40+ yards (9). A lot of media folks were talking about how he would fall off after week 3 or so, but he hasn't. Rivers is legit, our passing game is legit. Teams need to start fearing him more than they fear Tomlinson because Rivers will beat you through the air.

Vintage · Oct 13, 2008

They really are pinning their offense on Rivers. And he has really delivered. Big time.

Always nice to see a young QB grow up...

huevonkiller · Oct 15, 2008

As I've said before, I commend Rivers on the way he has stepped up. The guy is carrying his team.

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Rivers Flows the 'O'

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Rivers Flows the 'O'

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Vintage Defeating Communism...

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